Shanti’s Dispatches

I have mentioned The Business Experiment before here previously.

Robert May has posted a lengthy explanation of some of the issues they are facing as they attempt to incorporate their first venture.

Why can’t we incorporate like a regular startup?

Most regular startups incorporate as a C corporation. The rules governing this were laid out in the securities acts after the market crash of 1929, to protect investors. Ownership in a C corporation is considered a security. It is illegal to advertise securities for sale under most conditions. As a general rule, securities must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, there are several ways around this . Unfortunately, we don’t meet any of the requirements, except the ones that still require a disclosure document (i.e. a $15,000 preparation). We could get an exemption if

a)we keep incorporation to fewer than 35 people

b)we keep all the owners in the same state, and the total value to less than $1 million

c)every owner is an “accredited investor,” meaning a net worth of $1million or more or yearly income of 250K

Read more here

Or — as I like to say (quoting some Zen dudes) — Eat when hungry, sleep when tired.

Several months ago, there was a huge linkfest on the lifehack/43folders blogs about Polyphasic sleep.

While I had never really heard of this term before, it sounded an awful lot like a sleep pattern I found myself drifting into when I was doing my own thing for about 6 months, back a year++ ago. (No regular 9-5 gig or any set work schedule to speak of.)

The Edisonian Sleep Schedule

Basically, I found myself drifting into a very Edisonian sleep schedule consisting of lots of little naps combined with a longer rest every 30 hours or so.

Some people’s biological clocks, I believe, are just not hard-wired for the 24-hour daily cycle that your typical 9-5 work environment demands. (I’ve written about this before but just wanted to revisit upon it… since running “virtual companies” via telecommuting & more flexible schedules is a topic I feel passionately about.)

People who do seem to be hard-wired for a set 9-5 schedule, or have possibly just conditioned themselves for this environment, cannot seem to understand the fact that maybe other people only need 4-5 hours of sleep at night, but might require some downtime naps (like Edison) of 20-30 min. throughout the day.

Out of Whack

The problem for Zen/Polyphasic sleepers occurs when you get out of whack with everyone else… and are waking up from your longer rest at 2am. Well, even if you try and get a nap in before the 9-5 rush… you’re still going to be dragging when 5pm rolls around. Especially if the possibility of a quick mental defrag by laying down to rest is not an option.

If you’re in NYC or Tokyo, you might be able to rent a sleep pod.

Of course, that’s not exactly the same as walking fifteen feet into the other room and crashing, but I guess it could do in a pinch.

Steve Pavlina’s Polyphasic Experiment

Steve Pavlina has reported back on his Polyphasic sleep experiment after 60 days. He seems like an incredibly disciplined guy, so I had no doubt, if it was working out for him, that’d he’d be able to pull it off. (unlike many others who reported that they tried and “failed”)

Like Steve, I’ve found that once you get used to this schedule, It’s tough to go back. In the future I’ll have to try his suggestions of cutting down on the meat & caffeine. The biggest problem I’ve found is having the discipline and ability to time your schedule so that you can workout / attend classes if that’s a goal of yours.

Sure, you can go for a jog 24 hours a day in many neighborhoods, but you’ll have to be up at the right time to hit that Yoga class.

Postscript

While googling for the funny T-Shirt slogan, Alarm Clocks Kill Dreams to end this post with, I discovered that the once funny catch-phrase has been co-opted by the humorless Work Less Party.

It’s not about the work, silly rabbit, it’s about pursuing the kind of work you love … in the way that you love to work.

[+] My review of Peopleware on All Consuming

Backstory: As part of a recent system administration task I needed help with, one of my requirements was that the individual document how they performed the task. Nothing simple, just a few key steps or especially complicated compilation strings, whatever.

Enough for someone moderately skilled in *nix administration to repeat the task w/o reinvinting the wheel.

I do this all the time on my own system, say, when I’m compiling php or apache. Or even simple one-liners like Subversion checkout/import/etc. commands.

First I’ll type the commands into a notes.txt file, run them, fix any errors, and keep the notes.txt up to date with how I performed the task so its there as an easy reference in the future. It adds maybe 15-20% of time to the process but saves an incredible amount of time in the long run.

For tasks that other people I’m working with might have to use… I’ll post them to a wiki like Backpack. (Here’s an example that I wrote for a buddy new to Rails: Rails Newbie Getting Started Guide)

So, I was a bit taken aback when I got this response back from a system administrator:

I have done the easyapache thing and had compiled so. But if you are asking for a step by step description of how to go about compiling, then I guess no sys-admin will be willing to give you the details.

This frankly boggles my mind.

I know there are people in Office Space environments who hoard their knowledge and try to build up their fiefdoms.

But for those of us lucky to work (or also work) in Web 2.0 environments … this kind of attitude is unacceptable.

Welcome, knowledge hoarders, to the era of blogs, wikis, open source and distributed web collaboration –
     Your value to my organization is inversely proportional to the amount of knowledge you hoard, not the other way around. Goodbye.

My main man Gabriel has knocked out an incredible design for WhoLinksToMe.com.

Gabriel and I have been working together on Niner Niner this past year.

Now we’ve teamed up to bring you lots of web 2.0 goodness, from WhoLinksToMe.com to a few other fun little sites we’ve got in the oven.

Hint: the project involves tags - you know, everyone’s favorite web 2.0 buzzword.

One of the things I’ve been working on lately is a way to kickstart a new Ruby on Rails project even more quickly than the standard rails myappname method.

It’s called QuickStart Rails.

This follows, I believe, the Don’t Repeat Yourself ethos because I always found myself doing the exact same things when starting up a new rails app. (login generation, decent looking decent/layout structure to work with, etc)

I’m eager to hear feedback on QS rails and how it can be improved. Please send comments / gripes / suggestions to: shantibraford (at) gmail

Getting Started with QuickStart Rails

CREATE TABLE users (
 id int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
 login varchar(80) default NULL,
 password varchar(40) default NULL,
 PRIMARY KEY  (id)
);

QuickStart Rails gives you:

	./myapp
	   |  /branches
	   |  /tags
	   |  /trunk    - main rails application tree (always the latest release)
	        | ...   - all the usual rails files

QuickStart Rails comes configured with:

• A pre-configured login account controller (which uses the login generator: ./script/generate login Account)
• A Home Controller and default route to /home/index : ./script/generate controller Home index about contact
• A fairly sexy-looking design to help you get started & inspired (yes, you’ll replace it eventually, we know)

Future Goals of the QuickStart Rails Project


Themes

• Themeswitcher functionality (ala Wordpress)
• Themes go in a /themes directory (themes include: layout(s), css, images, etc)
• ./script/themeswitch <theme> — to change themes
• Build a library of decent themes that can be included in a public Subversion tree and easily exported (per-theme or the entire repository)

Nano-Rails Ninjas — or — the Rails Sentient Engine ® Project

• These will be embedded under your skin and behind your cerebral cortext.
• Will write your Rails applications for you (even more than standard Rails), in your sleep.
• TODO: Figure out a way to turn off the nano-rails when they become self-aware.

Any other ideas?

Whenever I keep hearing about a book, from multiple trusted sources, it’s always a clear signal to me that I should check it out.

This was the case with Robert B. Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

It appears on Joel’s Book Recommendations page as well as the newly revised Personal MBA list by Josh Kaufman.

After reading the first third of the book, I’ve developed a nauseating feeling… thinking back on all the times I’ve been unwittingly duped by psychological mind tricks. (whether the parties knew they were using these or not… most likely not)

… that, as well as noticing all the times where I’ve attempted to use such techniques, not fully knowing what I was doing at the time.

This generally relates to working with people, such as our Human Capital Investment Group, Menlo Park 2.0, the Niner Niner weblog network, and other various ventures that involve recruiting, building and championing a team.

More and more… especially after reading this book, I’ve realized that I don’t want to have to resort to any mind tricks. (consciously or not)

I just want to do a few things, and do them well. These are:

• Build Something That People Love
• Build Something That People Use Regularly and Willingly (duh!), and Love to Tell Their Friends About
• Keep Making It (the Something) Better and Better Over Time

There. No jedi mind tricks. Just a simple formula…

… that’s incredibly hard to achieve in practice.

Assert(Simple != Easy);

Massimo Curatella, Italian CG animation expert, programmer, etc, points me to:

Tip of the Day, 3D Animated TV-Series by Dreamlike Visions

Be sure to check out the trailer.

This is incredible stuff from just a few guys in Italy on a shoestring budget. (No Pixar hundred-million dollar budget here)

It’d be interesting to see the machines they used to do the rendering.

I don’t think any high-powered Hollywood execs read this blog, but the guys are looking for a little exposure or an experienced producer to help them out. If you know of anyone, definitely get in touch with Massimo or the guys.

Anyway, very cool stuff!

Aside:

I met Massimo back when we were recruiting for Menlo Park 2.0. Even though it was just 5-6 months ago, it seems like an eternity. I’ve learned so much from just going for it as an entrepreneur.

The original idea with Menlo Park 2.0 is that various people with diverse skills and talents could come together to form ventures. We’d all be starting different companies, and MP2 would act like a sort of investment vehicle (a traditional VC or angel investor).

Only, MP2 members would invest their time, rather than their capital.

Well, at the time… I was long on time, short on cash. The idea seemed perfect.

I still like the idea, but since then I’ve had to get a full-time job until the kettle boils over with revenue.

When you can make a good $25 - 40 per hour as a programmer, it sure takes an awesome, revenue-generating venture to be able to replace that kind of dough.

The second “problem” of the original MP2 concept was that I believed people would just start coming together and coding away, like they do on open source projects.

I reasoned: “Give them a tool (a platform) they can use, and they will use it.”

Or something like that.

The problem, I realized, is that most open source and almost any kind of project will begin with a lone or a few lone coders.

There is so much effort to be exerted before getting to a next (any) stage, that until this is done… it really makes little sense to form a marketing team or crack-squad sales force.

Trust is a huge issue as well. I’m naturally idealistic (to a fault?). I have tremendous faith in human nature. But it really takes some “live-fire” experience working with someone before you’ll know what it’s like. (i.e. you want to code a lot, but for whatever reasons, all very justifiable, they can’t nearly contribute as much)

This isn’t nearly as big a problem when you’re in your dorm rooms, but when you’re spread out by a thousand miles or so (heck, even 50), you don’t have this option.

You basically have to trust that the other guy will get his or her stuff done… (this only becomes a problem of course if you are are actually busting your ass)

Major caveat: you will almost always feel like you are contributing more, no matter what.

The optimal situation (I’m paraphrasing Paul Graham here) - everyone feels like they are contributing just a little more than everyone else (or the other guy).

That’s probably the best you can hope for…

Recently, I’ve been the guilty party when it comes to not contributing as much to a new project. (Ankur - forgive me?)

We are so close with Niner Niner and Text Link Media, that I just want to get some momentum building before jumping off into another project with full force.

That being said, I would love to rock out this new project using Ruby on Rails. If we can get the eBay API working with Rails, it just might be a go!

/end shanti’s wax poetic on starting a human capital investment group/

PS: Anyone know any angel investors?

We have just launched yet another Niner Niner weblog:

On Healthy Living - A Weblog to help you live longer, healthier, and happier - on healthy cooking, eating, and life

Beautiful grapefruity WordPress theme by Gabriel.

Just days after beta launch, it’s already got lots of great posts by the ever-growing niner niner crew. Awesome job, guys!

Oh yeah, and you can grab it’s rss feed here.

We just launched another weblog over at Niner Niner:

SEO Updates - Search Engine Optimization - Updates, News, Tips and Resources from the front lines

My main man Gabriel did an excellent job with the design.

Look closely…. The header image is a green PageRank bar — Get It??

(Sorry, it took me a few minutes to see this so I thought I’d enlighten you. There, now don’t ya feel enlightend? :))

We’re getting a little bit more serious lately with our Niner Niner project over at the menlo park 2 labs.

Gabriel has knocked out some awesome-looking designs for our new Ajax Blog and now High Heels Blog.

I’ve been turning on a few more blogs here and there, and getting the backend working a bit more smoothly.

If you’d like to signup, the beta password is:

Update: Beta password removed for now… If you’d like to be put on the beta waiting list, please leave a comment below.

I know, it’s incredibly hard to guess. No one would ever figure it out in a million years =)

So… what is Niner Niner all about, you ask?

Niner Niner - Collaborative Weblog Media

We’re blogging the Long Tail of weblog media.

From High Heels to Medical Privacy - we’ve probably got a blog for you … or soon will.

Writers Wanted … How It Works

1. We provide a platform for you to write about the topics you love.

     We’re so eager to hear from you, we’ll even pay you to do so.

2. You get paid per post, anywhere from several dollars to several quarters, depending on the topic.

     (We’re not asking for Shakespearean prose here.)

3. Receive bonuses the more you contribute, and get paid when your balance reaches $25 or more.

You know what the best part is?

     You get to collaborate with a group of writers who are just as passionate as you are!

Does that help explain it better?

So go, get on outta here. Go signup over at Niner Niner. Remember, the beta password is:

Update: Beta password removed for now… If you’d like to be put on the beta waiting list, please leave a comment below.

(Whatever you do, don’t tell anyone the password… or post it on your blog.)